


Flirting with an Alien is Harder than Fighting Bad-Guys

by yueinya



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 11:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8888818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yueinya/pseuds/yueinya
Summary: Flirting shouldn't be so hard to do, or so hard to stop, or so hard to ignore. But Bart Allen is really having problems with all of those things. And Khaji Da is NOT HELPING.





	

After having an anxiety attack in the middle of the damn desert, Bart had managed to get a handle on himself. Sort of. If nothing else, he was at least fully aware of his feelings by the time he’d gotten back to Iris and Barry’s place around six in the morning. He’d gotten his phone back from Jaime after borrowing Barry’s to text Jaime and not only apologize for leaving so suddenly, but also to ask for his phone back as politely as possible without needing to spend an extended amount of time with him because really being around Jaime and the possibility of being around Khaji Da after how stupid he made himself look last night was not something Bart needed to worry about right now. 

This went on for a while. Bart would vaguely bail or avoid Jaime, and he could tell his friend was starting to catch on. But Bart wasn’t quite ready to completely face the fact that not only was he hopelessly in love with his best friend and hadn’t outright told him, but he was also crushing on the alien AI attached to his spine. Which, you know, was great. Absolutely _perfect_. 

Instead of facing his problems and talking to Jaime like an adult, Bart did what any 16-year-old boy in his position (but honestly what other 16-year-old boy could say that he was in love with his best friend and had a crush on an alien? Not any, he was pretty sure) would do. He _avoided his problems. For weeks_. Eventually Bart made the executive decision that he would ignore the issue because Jaime started to seem a little… hurt. Because of course he noticed Bart being distant, they were nearly inseparable for 3 years and then suddenly for over three weeks your best friend decides he’d rather do anything than be in the same room as you for more than 10 minutes. That sort of behavioral change does not go unnoticed. 

“Are you sure you’re okay _Hermano_?” Jaime’s voice prodded its way into Bart’s thoughts as they walked. It was late, and they were going to grab dinner before heading back to Jaime’s place. Bart agreed to pay since he’d been the jerk that was avoiding his best friend for weeks, so it was up to him to pick somewhere Jaime would probably like, and after a long day of sparring and training, Bart could probably have eaten twice his weight in whatever they decided on having. Probably best he was going to be paying. 

“Totally crash, man. I’m fine.” He lied, grinning up at him. Jaime seemed unconvinced, one dark eyebrow rising as he gave Bart a look that was something close to ‘sure, and pigs can fly’. But he didn’t press the issue yet. Bart didn’t hold out hope though, because he knew Jaime pretty well and was about 90% sure he wouldn’t be letting that one go any time soon. 

“So, you decided on dinner yet?” Jaime asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked along at Bart’s side. The speedster was taping his fingers inside of his own pocket to try and calm his nerves. 

“I tried this one really good fast food place around here a few months ago. Wanna check it out?” Bart asked, glancing up at him. Jaime shrugged and nodded, so Bart led the way down the road and around the corner. 

About 10 minutes later, they walked into the fast food joint and got in line. They ordered, sat down in a booth way in the back of the restaurant in a corner because Bart didn’t really like people sitting behind him, weirdly enough. As soon as Bart took a bite he noticed that subtle change in Jaime’s posture and when he looked up he could tell by the almost-sneer that it was no doubt Khaji Da. 

Bart almost choked.

“You really should not be eating this.” Khaji Da chided. Bart pursed his lips and took another bite. Once he swallowed he took a long drink of his soda, which Khaji Da wrinkled his nose at as well. 

“Just eat it, okay?” Bart replied. 

“Recommendation: Salad or something with at least more nutritional value than this sorry excuse for a meal. All you are getting out of this is grease and sodium.” He continued, staring at the burger in front of him with clear distaste. Bart rolled his eyes. 

“It tastes good, put it in your face.” 

“Taste is no excuse to ignore your body’s nutritional requirements.” 

Bart made a noise in response as he took another bite, looking up to meet Khaji Da’s gaze. He held that look for a moment before the scarab’s expression changed. He looked mildly irritated, and then Jaime slouched a little and picked up his food. Bart snickered and shook his head. Jaime at least seemed to like the food well enough, and after they’d eaten until they were both satisfied, they left. They walked slowly again, Bart’s eyes flicking from person to person as they passed couples of groups of friends and a few solo people on the streets. The sun set over the city and Jaime piped up again. 

“So are you going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me, or are we just going to pretend like that didn’t happen ese?” Bart chewed his lip thoughtfully, but didn’t answer. Jaime made a sound between a sigh and a huff and Bart felt like crap. “Fine,” Bart looked up at him, “We’ll pretend like it didn’t happen, but you can’t do it again, deal?” 

“…Deal.” Bart nodded. Jaime smiled and nudged him. 

“Good.” 

Bart didn’t talk to Khaji Da again that night, but he and Jaime were right back to being inseparable, just like Bart hadn’t spent 3 weeks avoiding him.  
______________________________________________________________________________  
A week or so later, they met up for movie night again. This time it was Jaime’s pick. He picked out a romantic comedy (something that was supposed to be closer to comedy than romance, according to the reviews) as a nice change from the terrible slasher movies that Bart was very enthusiastic about watching and correcting every chance he got. Jaime also hoped that the romantic comedy would discourage Khaji Da from making comments just as much as Bart did because sometimes Jaime just wanted to enjoy a movie without constant commentary from his best friend and the alien attached to his back. 

If only he was so lucky. 

As the movie went on, Bart noticed Jaime’s expression changing from relaxed, to slightly annoyed, to exasperated. Bart sat up from his lounging position, legs crossed like a pretzel. “What?” He asked. Jaime didn’t need to really explain because Bart knew it was probably Khaji Da. 

“He thinks the portrayal of human emotions is inaccurate in comparison to what he’s observed of real life couples.” Jaime looked over at him and half-smiled. “He also thinks that you pick better movies than I do.”

“I mean I do.” Bart’s lips stretched into a grin and Jaime rolled his eyes. 

“ _Gracias_.” 

“ _De nada_.” 

“Yes, I know it’s not real rain.” Jaime rolled his eyes and leaned back into the couch like he wanted to sink into the cushions. Bart laughed and flopped back to where he was laying previously. 

“Seriously that lighting is so inaccurate to the time of day.” Bart added, crossing his arms. Jaime _groaned_ and the younger teen tried very hard not to laugh more. 

“Fine.” He heard Jaime say with a sigh, and then he noticed him straighten up and his eyes were golden. Khaji Da’s face looked like he was very focused, and maybe a little irritated. Bart watched him instead of the movie for a few moments. 

“The one thing I really don’t get about this movie is why the main guy is so unattractive,” Bart stated as he looked back to the screen and crossed his arms. He frowned. “Dude looks like he broke his nose twice and never got out of puberty and he’s just not attractive. Now if they either of you were cast as the love interest it would be a different sto—“ He dropped his sentence and blinked. _I did not just say that_. He immediately caught himself and just sort of froze. He dared a glance at Khaji Da, whose eyes were on him and his eyebrows were just slightly higher than normal. A smirk was pulling at one corner of his lips. Bart cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. _Oh you did NOT just FLIRT with Khaji Da, Bart! What the heck am I thinking?! That’s just it, you’re not thinking. You don’t ever think about what you’re saying before it comes out of your mouth!_ He scolded himself silently, chewing on the inside of his cheek. 

“If Jaime or I were in the leading roll I assure you that girl would not be our romantic interest.” Khaji Da stated after a few minutes of silence between them. He didn’t clarify that or anything, just left it there. Bart’s mind was racing again. 

_Did he just flirt back at me? No, no of course not. He wouldn’t—why would he ever do that?_ Bart wracked his brain for any ounce of reasoning he could fathom that Khaji Da would make a comment like that, clearly in response to Bart’s mention of if Jaime or Khaji Da had been the lead in this movie it would actually be worth watching and putting himself in the shoes of the film’s protagonist. But nope. There was nothing. Nothing but him wondering why in the hell Khaji Da would remotely flirt back at him because of course Bart was 100% convinced that it was certainly not the thing that Khaji Da would do. 

He was wrong.  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Over the next few weeks, Bart noticed that he would see Khaji Da around more and more often in comparison to how much he used to speak with the scarab directly. The first time was simply sparring with Jaime, no weapons or powers, just hand to hand combat because really it was good for their bodies more than anything. 

He swung his fist towards the side of Jaime’s head and his hand came up faster than Jaime normally reacted, and when Bart’s eyes snapped to his friend’s, gold stared back at him. He gulped, and then he was flipped and his back was on the ground and Khaji Da smirked down at him with one eyebrow arched. 

“You should not let your enemy surprise you so easily.” Khaji Da spoke evenly, pushing his finger into the middle of Bart’s forehead. Bart’s lips flattened into a line and he huffed. 

“Well if your eyes weren’t so distracting it wouldn’t be a problem, Khaji Da.” He replied. _STOP FLIRTING WITH HIM BART WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!_ He demanded of himself. Khaji Da’s lips curved in an amused smirk. 

“If they are distracting perhaps you need more practice ignoring them. Imagine how distracted you must be in the field. No wonder you get hit so often.” Bart could have sworn Khaji Da was teasing him, but that wasn’t like him. At least, Bart thought it wasn’t like him. 

He was still wrong. 

“Funny.” He retorted, half-heartedly glaring up at him. Khaji Da got off him and extended a hand to help him to his feet. Bart took his hand and pulled himself up. Was he teasing me? Bart couldn’t let it go as he went in to start the hand to hand fighting again. Khaji Da was faster than Jaime, golden eyes calculating every move Bart was making before he’d fully made them. Then again, Khaji Da knew how Bart moved. He wondered when Khaji Da had begun to pay such close attention to him, and that thought was even more distracting than the intensity of Khaji Da’s stare. In the blink of an eye Bart was knocked on his back again.

“You are still distracted.” His smooth voice dragged Bart from his thoughts again. He huffed, dropping his head back against the floor lightly. 

“Shocker,” Bart replied. Khaji Da was leaning over him bracing himself on one knee as he tilting his head a little. He was looking over Bart’s face intently, and his brow was pulled together just slightly like he was trying to decipher something. Bart’s heart picked up and he stared back at him, swallowing a dry lump in his throat. “Um…” 

“You do not seem sick, I do not understand why you are so easily distracted today,” Khaji Da stated. Bart was about 99.99% sure Khaji Da was blatantly lying to his damn face because the scarab met his eyes and Bart could almost see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and he thought he saw his lips curve in a smirk, and then he backed off again and pulled Bart to his feet once more. “Focus.” 

“I am focused.” He replied, running his fingers through his hair and sucking in a slow breath. When he looked back over at his sparring partner, he didn’t look convinced. 

“Not on improving your skills.” Was his reply. Bart scoffed, more at himself than at anything. 

_Nope, way too focused on how attractive you are and how much I really shouldn’t be attracted to you and how I really need to stop flirting with you and how I can’t tell if you’re flirting back or just being a jerk._ He silently answered, rolling his eyes instead of saying anything aloud. Khaji Da moved first now, and Bart was on defense. He blocked and moved quickly, but got a fist to the gut in record time. He winced, but it didn’t hurt very much. 

“You are doing worse.” Khaji Da’s voice was low and _right in Bart’s ear._ He gulped and pulled back to rub at his stomach. 

“Yeah, well.” _Great comeback._

“Well?” Khaji Da gave an amused smile and Bart was positively flustered. _He IS flirting with me! I think. Probably? UGH!_ He was so frustrated. Bart was groping around his brain for something remotely intelligent to say when Connor interrupted them to use the training room with Wolf and Beast Boy. Bart was 100% glad to give it up and hit the showers, leaving that final question completely unanswered.  
______________________________________________________________________________

This general pattern continued over the next month or so until school started back up again. Bart would be hanging out with Jaime and suddenly it would be Khaji Da and they would quip at each other. But then fall approached and Jaime was swallowed by college coursework outside of the whole hero thing. So, Bart was by himself more than he had been most of the summer, and it kind of sucked. He was on his final ‘year’ of school, so he threw himself into his own homework. Being homeschooled, Bart was basically able to finish courses whenever he got through the work. And while occasionally he had to meet with other homeschooled kids in his area for group projects, he was generally on his own timeline. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around he was finished with the first half of his last year of work (and he’d been taking his time). 

With his suddenly very open schedule, Bart took the time to zeta over to El Paso to see if Jaime was drowning in work. Bianca told him that Jaime was up in his room and hadn’t come out in a while. Bart thanked her and jogged up the stairs, knocking on the door. He wasn’t expecting Khaji Da to be the one to open the door. He left room for him to enter though, so Bart slipped inside and watched him close the door. 

“Bart.” He greeted. He was quiet and calm in tone as he moved over and sat on the edge of Jaime’s bed. Bart shifted a little bit. 

“Hey. Everything alright?” He was asking more for Jaime’s sake, because why else would Khaji Da just be in control unless something was wrong? 

“Jaime was studying and neglected to sleep. I told him I would help.” He said, picking up a shirt from the bed next to him and folding it. Bart raised an eyebrow. For some reason it was really endearing to see Khaji Da doing such domestic tasks. He moved over and picked up a shirt as well, folding it and setting it down on the other side of Khaji Da. 

“That’s awfully nice of you.” Bart said quietly. Khaji Da watched him, and Bart could feel his eyes on him. He met his gaze for a moment and smiled a little before picking up a pair of jeans and folding those as well. 

“You do not have to help.” Khaji Da mentioned. Bart shrugged. 

“I don’t mind helping. Besides, it’s been a while.” He meant that in respect to both of them, but as school had neared Bart had begun to see less and less of Khaji Da. And yeah, he did miss him. He’d never actually admit missing his sly little comments and smirks and teasing. Soon enough that stack of clothes was folded and Bart put it away. It was a little surprising how well he knew his way around Jaime’s room, but he knew exactly where the clothes went. 

“He is doing well in his classes, even if he is over stressed.” Khaji Da answered the question Bart hadn’t asked yet. Of course he knew why he was here, Khaji Da always seemed to know. Bart smiled again. 

“Good. I know his grades are very important to him.” He leaned against the wall next to the window, pulling back the blinds to look outside. It was beautifully clear out. Suddenly he turned to the Scarab and grinned. “Hey, do you wanna go out to the desert? For old times’ sake?”  
Khaji Da blinked like he wasn’t expecting that from Bart, but he looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “We can do that. Jaime finished his paper just before you arrived.” He stood and the black and blue suit crawled over his skin until Jaime was replaced with Blue Beetle. Bart grinned and opened the window. 

“Sweet. Race ya!” He leapt out the window and hit the ground running. Khaji Da was right on his tail, soaring through the air. They stopped in a dip of rocks and short cliffs. It kind of reminded Bart of the place he’d fallen in a few months back, but he pushed that thought out of his head as quickly as he could. Khaji Da landed behind him on the edge of one of the cliffs. 

“You won.” He stated, sitting down. Bart grinned. 

“I kinda cheated, don’t feel too bad.” He zipped up to sit next to him, leaning back on his hands and looking up. His legs were hanging off the edge of the cliff next to Khaji Da’s. They were quiet for a minute, but he could feel the other man’s eyes on him. He glanced his way and green met gold and for a moment he wasn’t sure what to say. “You know, your eyes are still pretty distracting.” Was the best he could come up with. _And we’re right back to square one, Bart._ He scolded himself. But Khaji Da smirked and then looked up at the sky. 

“Is that something I should apologize for?” Khaji Da asked. Bart was confused by his question. Still, he shook his head. 

“No.” He looked up as well. 

“Good. You are out of practice anyway. We must return to sparring together to get you used to them again.” Bart looked over at him, and it sort of looked like Khaji Da was smiling, but the black of the armor made it hard to really tell in the pale light of the moon and stars that glowed so high above them. Bart was certainly smiling. 

“Yeah. I’d like that.” 

And that was true. Bart had really missed both Jaime and Khaji Da over the past month or so of near radio silence. School had swallowed them both, and Bart hated that distance. He was just glad he’d be graduating soon and hoped that Jaime would have enough time to hang out with him more. And while flirting with Khaji Da was hard and probably not something he should do, it was something he really liked doing. He was certainly down for more of that.


End file.
